Things to see and do Muntenia

It's the little jewel of the historic centre. Built in 1724, in the Brâncovenesc style, it is a superb example among the many buildings that appeared during the century of the Phanariotes, the governors imposed by the Turks. The façade is richly decorated with carved columns, medallions and multiple plant motifs. The interior is also remarkable, covered with frescoes and endowed with a beautiful carved wooden iconostasis. The modest size of the building, the darkness that reigns there, the play of lights on the icons give it a very special atmosphere.

This summer residence of King Carol I and his wife Elisabeth has become one of the most visited places in Romania. It was built between 1873 and 1914, according to the rather crazy plans of Doderer and Schultz. Its first inauguration took place in 1883, after which it was enlarged under the direction of the Czech architect Karel Liman. At the cutting edge of modernity in its time, Peleș was the first castle in Europe to have electricity and central heating. Carol I died there in 1914. Under communism, the confiscated royal residence was used as a holiday resort by party cadres. Distinguished guests, such as foreign heads of state, were often welcomed. The effect of this tall building, perched in its green setting, is immediate on the visitor, astonishing the eye with its towers, spires and half-timbered houses. In the German neo-Renaissance style, it is also influenced by Italian, Oriental, French and Gothic styles. The 160 rooms in the building are characterized by rich wooden ornaments, which are also found on the facades. The abundance and diversity of statues, pottery, precious vases, weapons, stained-glass windows, tapestries and porcelain is impressive. Among the most beautiful rooms, you will visit the Hall of Honour, characterized by its beautiful carved walnut decorations, or the library, all in wood panelling, absolutely magnificent. In the reception room, wooden models of sixteen castles belonging to the Hohenzollern family (Carol I's family) are on display. The armoury displays collections of European and Oriental weapons from the 15th century onwards. The stained glass windows of the music room, the Florentine room with its gilded wood and marble decorations, the Moorish room with its marble-encrusted furniture, and the theatre where the country's first film projection took place in 1906, will also delight you. The estate of Peleș includes several other beautiful buildings, also built by Carol I: in addition to the castle of Pelișor or the many outbuildings converted into hotels or restaurants, there is the castle of Foișor, a hunting lodge used in its time by Ceaușescu. Today it is a ceremonial residence of the Romanian state, which is not open to the public. The park at Peleș can be visited for free. The Italian Renaissance style gardens, laid out on terraces, enhance the castle, which seems to have come straight out of a fairy tale, particularly well.

The Village Museum (Muzeul satului), founded in 1936, offers a plunge into the countryside, right in the heart of the capital. Just like the Romanian Peasant Museum (the two are really complementary), it allows you to discover the richness of the peasant world, but this time in the open air. Typical houses from different parts of the country are gathered in a 14-hectare park, which stretches along the shores of the lake Herăstrău. Apuseni thatched roofs, Transylvanian and Maramureș wooden portals, carved columns from the Târgu Jiu region, Lipovene house covered with reeds, shepherds' huts... it's all there. You will also see mills, wells, presses and wooden churches. All these constructions (no less than 380!) were transported from their respective regions. The oldest date back to the 17th century, the most recent to the beginning of the 20th century. The place is a bit frozen, but it is pleasant to stroll in this beautiful park and very interesting to be able to penetrate in these old houses (we wish you to know this same pleasure in the countryside, the real one). Fairs, traditional celebrations, folk dances and music performances take place there very frequently. You may even have the opportunity to watch clips being shot by specialist TV channels such as Etno TV or Favorit. Good to know: the beautiful souvenir shop at the entrance offers a paying audio guide. There is also a mobile application to download.

This is one of the best museums in Bucharest. Designed by the painter and photographer Horia Bernea after the revolution, it was consecrated "European Museum of the Year" in 1996. Housed in an imposing neo-Romanian-style building, it previously housed the museum of the Romanian Communist Party during the forty years of its regime. A room, containing paintings and sculptures typical of this period, recalls this former function. But the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (Muzeul național al țaranului român) has above all the vocation to reveal all the richness of the village world of yesterday and today. Crafts, folklore and architecture of the different regions are presented there. We discover the daily life of the peasants, the classroom, the costumes, the religious icons, the tools, the painted eggs, the carpets... A visit is essential, especially if your stay in Romania is limited to a few days in the capital. Unfortunately, the permanent exhibition has been closed for works since 2016 and its reopening date is not known. However, the temporary exhibitions, which are often very interesting, as well as the shop and the good restaurant with traditional specialities, remain accessible.

Beautiful craft markets are held several times a year, at Easter and Christmas in particular. In addition, the museum shop is one of the best-stocked in the city. There are some remarkable CDs of folk music.

An excellent museum, recently modernized and very popular with families. You'll meet the country's main species (bear, wolf, sturgeon, pelican, lynx...), stuffed and inserted in dioramas recreating their natural environment. Others are preserved in formalin. One section is dedicated to the world's fauna. There is also a large collection of insects, as well as imposing skeletons of prehistoric pachyderms, including that of a deinotherium, the only one of its kind in the world.

Founded in 1715 by the erudite Metropolitan Antim, this is one of Bucharest's most beautiful monasteries. You'll notice the characteristic Brâncovenesc style, the discreet but rich floral carvings, as well as beautiful Nativity paintings (dating from 1812, like many of its buildings). The monastery is concealed by the blocks of flats built in the 1980s. To erect them, the block housing the monks was moved 20 m. The surrounding streets, which escaped destruction, offer a glimpse of the district's past charm.

A decisive moment in the 1989 revolution was played out here. On December 21, from the balcony of the Communist Party, Ceaușescu delivered a speech - his last. Interrupted by protests from the crowd, he fled by helicopter the following day, after a night of bloody repression. In the center of the square, the Renaissance Memorial pays tribute to the victims. In one corner, you'll also see the remains of a beautiful building burnt down during the revolution, reputed to have housed Securitate services. Renovated, a glass tower has been added.

Dedicated to the archangels Michael and Gabriel, the Armenian church(biserica armenească) was built in 1915. Recently renovated, it has regained its whiteness. The courtyard features a bust of General Andranik (1865-1927), Armenia's national hero. It also houses a museum dedicated to the history of the country's once sizeable Armenian community. Mainly made up of small craftsmen and merchants, it has left a precious architectural heritage, visible in the surroundings in the beautiful Armenian quarter, which starts here and stretches along Calea Moșilor.

Situated on Cotroceni hill, surrounded by a beautiful park, this palace has been the residence of the President of the Republic since the 1990s. Neoclassical in style, it was built in the 1890s for Prince Ferdinand, to plans by French architect Paul Gottereau. Neo-Romanesque elements were added later. The full tour takes in the hall of honor, the kitchens, the basement, the king's library, various salons... Queen Marie's bedroom and the Oriental Room are the two highlights of this beautiful visit.

Quiet and charming, this is one of the city's prettiest districts, where the streets bear the names of great doctors and researchers. It's a pleasant place to stroll, especially along Sfântul Elefterie, Joseph Lister and Romniceanu streets. This is a residential district, with no shops apart from a few good cafés, and often very large mansions built from the late ^19th century onwards in a variety of styles: neo-Romanesque, neo-Moorish and Art Deco. The streets, all lined with plane trees, are shaded in summer.

Opened in 2016, twenty-seven years after the dictator's fall, the Spring Palace(Palatul Primăverii) was his private residence for a quarter of a century. Located in a district reserved for the nomenklatura, it was built in the mid-1960s, then enlarged in the 1970s. It has some 80 rooms, and the 45-minute guided tour takes you through fifteen of them. The interiors, decorated in Renaissance and Rococo style, are luxurious and comfortable, furnished with paintings by local masters, handmade silk tapestries, sumptuous crystal chandeliers, objets d'art of all kinds and beautiful mosaics, such as those adorning the indoor swimming pool. You'll stroll through the offices, salons, dining room, winter garden... A marble staircase leads upstairs, where each of the Ceaușescu's three children had their own little apartment, with a bedroom, study and bathroom. The spouses also had their own private suite, as well as a gold-plated bathroom that had particularly scandalized, just after the revolution. You'll also see the cinema room, the couple's vast dressing room and, by the pool, the whirlpool, sauna and tanning booth. Outside, peacocks roam the garden: they are the descendants of those who lived there in Ceaușescu's time! For a tidy sum, you can opt for the full tour, which also includes the trophy room, the bunker and the underground tunnel.

This 23-storey, 80-metre-high tower was erected under Ceauşescu's regime in agreement with the American Intercontinental group. Its construction was launched when the dictator decided that a capital city needed a structure of this standing. The city's first tower, inaugurated in 1971, was featured on the cover of every tourist guide to Bucharest, as proof of its modernity. During the revolution, the tower welcomed many foreign journalists, who watched from its balconies as soldiers fired on the crowds.

Surrounded by an imposing fortification wall, it was built between 1690 and 1695 by Prince Mihai Cantacuzino, on his return from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Sinai, hence its name. A new church with a red façade is part of the ensemble. It was restored in 1903 by the French architect Lecomte du Nouÿ, who modernized it by adding ceramics, enamels and paintings. The older, smaller church is in the Brâncovenesc style. The Sinaia monastery is also home to the first Bible translated into Romanian (written in Cyrillic), dating from 1668.

On the road to Bucharest, the former manor house(conac) of the Goleşti, a great boyar family, is well worth a stop. Built in 1640, it features interesting traditional architecture with oriental influences. Inside, the family's life is recreated. You'll also find an exhibition of history and folk art, a remarkable ^17th-century church (Sfânta Treime), Turkish baths dating from 1807, unique in Romania, and a 12-hectare open-air wine museum, which bears witness to local activity linked to orchards and vines.

Built by Prince Brâncoveanu in the early ^18th century, this palace has an eventful history. After the prince's death, it suffered extensive damage from fire and invasion, and was once used as an inn. Recently renovated, it now hosts seminars, exhibitions, concerts and a restaurant. Its balconies, arcades and ornamental sculptures are remarkable. The color of the stone and bricks and the architectural harmony of the whole are enchanting. The roof of the main building features curious chimneys.

Located between Piața Unirii and the park Cișmigiu, it is the historical heart and the starting point of the development of Bucharest. Around the princely court, of which only ruins remain, this district attracted merchants and craftsmen from the 15th century onwards. Ravaged by a fire in 1847, foreign architects, mostly French, helped to give it a European look. The district is crossed by Lipscani Street, once the most commercial street in the city. Its name comes from Lipsca, or Leipzig. The streets Şelari (des Selliers) and Blănari (des Fourreurs), which bear witness to the age-old trading and craft activities in the district, are also interesting to walk along. To go from Lipscani to Blănari, you can take the Hanul cu Tei (Lime Tree Inn) street, lined with art and antique shops. Other points of interest include the Hanul lui Manuc caravanserai, the bookshop Cărturești and the Caru' cu Bere brewery. Having miraculously escaped the destructive madness of Ceaușescu, people now come to Lipscani to stroll along its lively pedestrian streets with numerous terraces. In recent years it has become one of the trendiest areas of the city, where tourists and Bucharesters mingle. It has in passing gained in glitz and lost some of its soul, but remains one of the most interesting to visit. The streets have a very special charm, where ruins and decayed buildings stand side by side with beautifully renovated buildings. A true concentrate of Bucharest.

This park to the north of the city is one of the most pleasant. Opened in 1936, it is laid out around a beautiful expanse of the same name, part of a necklace of lakes formed by the Colentina River. In winter, it freezes over and becomes a skating rink, while in summer, boats can be hired for a leisurely stroll. The wide avenues are lined with a variety of trees. There are numerous terraces for refreshments and refreshment. Although gigantic, the park is overcrowded on Sundays, when all the inhabitants of Bucharest seem to gather.

The National Art Museum (Muzeul național from artă) is housed in the former royal palace, with richly decorated interiors. Built in the 1930s by Carol II, after the fire of the previous palace, it was damaged by the bombings of 1944. It also saw the arrest of Antonescu in the same year and the abdication of King Mihai in 1947. During the revolution, the palace suffered considerable damage and many works were destroyed, including several master paintings. It was fully restored in the 1990s, along with some of the works. It is possible to visit certain areas outside the museum, such as the throne room or the royal dining room. The Art Museum is divided into several sections. The European gallery presents works of painters such as Greco (The Adoration of the Shepherds), Rubens (Portrait of a Lady), Delacroix, Bruegel (The Massacre of the Innocents), Monet (Camille), Rembrandt, Renoir, Sisley... In the section of Romanian medieval art, where religious art dominates, you can admire pieces of great value : iconostases, icons, cult objects... Moldavian, Transylvanian or Wallachian, they come from the monasteries of Horezu, Curtea of Argeş, Snagov... The National Gallery of Modern Art exhibits works by Romanian artists such as Brâncuşi (including the superb Sleep), Baba, Grigorescu, Aman, Pallady or Brauner. Even if you don't know much about Romanian artists, hurry up! The museum also hosts prestigious temporary exhibitions.

Raluca, the initiator, has turned her grandparents' apartment in one of these concrete blocks into a museum of family life under Communism. With a wealth of commentary, the tour focuses on the harshest years of the 1980s. Room by room, you'll learn how power infiltrated Romanians' daily lives, which were characterized by rationing, propaganda and resourcefulness (bartering, cooking and bathing at night...). Extended packages are available, including a visit to the center or a Communist dinner. An original, instructive and touching experience.